A next-generation weather satellite slated to hitch a ride on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral on Thursday will join its sibling 22,300 miles above the Earth, arming forecasters with high-definition data from almost the entire Western Hemisphere.

On Wednesday morning, the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance rocket rolled out to the pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41, setting the stage for a 5:02 p.m. Thursday liftoff of the newest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, known as GOES-S. Teams have two hours to launch the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration payload.

The rocket should, for the most part, sail into clear skies – forecasters with the Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron expect 80 percent "go" conditions during the window with cumulus clouds and ground winds noted as the primary concerns.

"The spacecraft, the Atlas V rocket and range equipment are all ready and the combined government and contractor launch team is prepared to launch GOES-S," NASA Launch Director Tim Dunn said Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center.

Upgraded coverage and capabilities

The 11,500-pound GOES-S satellite resembles its GOES-R sibling, which launched from Cape Canaveral in November 2016 on an Atlas V and was renamed GOES-16 or GOES-East after a period of on-orbit testing. Weather forecasters across the nation leaned on its modern capabilities during 2017's deadly hurricane season, taking advantage of its high-definition, rapid-fire transmissions to learn more about hurricanes Harvey and Irma, to name a few.

After liftoff, GOES-S will follow a similar formula – ascension to geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles above the equator, on-orbit testing, then a renaming to GOES-17 or GOES-West.

The Lockheed-Martin built satellite will focus on the western United States including Hawaii and Alaska, but its instruments can gaze across the Pacific Ocean all the way out to New Zealand. GOES-16, meanwhile, was tasked with standing watch over the eastern U.S. and Atlantic Ocean out to Africa.

The combined target areas mean the two next-generation spacecraft have a nearly complete view of the Western Hemisphere with modern tools that capture high-definition images several times faster than legacy weather satellites.

"These satellites are giving us the ability to look at some storms as often as every 30 seconds, allowing forecasters to see storms as they're developing instead of after they've already taken place," said Tim Walsh, system program director for the GOES program.

But the satellites don't just look at storms, Walsh said, noting that previous images by GOES-16 picked up on fire activity in California before authorities had even been alerted.

"We're seeing fires before they're reported on the ground," he said. "Some of the information we're getting from 22,300 miles away is giving us information on the ground that is incredibly vital."

GOES-S also features two other Lockheed Martin-built instruments that track lightning – including cloud-to-cloud activity – and, on the reverse, observe solar activity.

But its primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager, or ABI, and the GOES ground systems have their roots in a company that calls the Space Coast home: Melbourne-based Harris.

A Space Coast connection

Harris, which designed and built imagers for previous generations of weather spacecraft, was selected to provide the modern ABI currently installed on the satellite that will eventually expand to 20 feet long after solar array deployment.

"It takes pictures," said Paul Griffith, chief solutions engineer with Harris' Space and Intelligence Systems division. "It just takes them much more rapidly and in many different colors and with much better resolution than the past imagers."

Harris' responsibilities, however, don't end with launch as it also manages GOES ground systems, which receive and interpret data from the satellites for dissemination to forecasters, scientists and others. The company operates centers in Maryland and Virginia with a backup location in West Virginia.

Griffith said the ground systems are just as crucial as the spacecraft themselves, noting that without sufficient processing power, for example, it wouldn't matter how high-resolution the images are – they would be bottlenecked before getting to forecasters.

Atlas V launch vehicle

United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket is transported to the pad at Launch Complex 41 with the GOES-S weather satellite on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018.(Photo: United Launch Alliance)

More than 2.2 million pounds of thrust will boost GOES-S off the pad thanks to Atlas V's Russian main engine and four strap-on solid boosters, marking the 76th overall launch of the rocket. The mission, a joint venture also managed by NASA, is the agency's 16th flight on Atlas V.

The rocket includes a five-meter protective nose cone, which is the largest ULA currently offers.

"The first GOES launch was in 1975," said Scott Messer, ULA's program manager for NASA missions. "We at United Launch Alliance are proud that either our current or one of our heritage vehicles has launched every GOES satellite that has ever launched."

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook at @EmreKelly.

Launch Thursday:

Rocket: United Launch Alliance Atlas V

Mission: GOES-S weather satellite

Launch Time: 5:02 p.m.

Launch Window: Two hours

Launch Complex: 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Weather: 80 percent "go"

Join floridatoday.com at 3:30 p.m. Thursday for countdown chat and updates, including streaming of the launch broadcast starting 30 minutes before liftoff.

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